Brooder



1932- c. c. GRIMES 1,391,311

BROODER- Filed Aug. 4, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR WITNESS rz'mes ATTQRNEY Dec; 20, 1932; c, c, GRlMES 1,891,811

BROODER Filed Aug. 4, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WITNESS ATTORNEY 'Dec. 20,1932. c. c. GRIMES 1,891,811

BROODER Filed Aug. 4, 1950 f 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR gffi zm ATTORN EY Patented Dec. 20, 1932 UNITED STATES CURTIS c. Gan/ins, or YALE, OKLAHOMA BROODER Application fil edAugust 4, 1930. Serial No.472,925-.

This invention relates to chick brooders and particularly to that type of brooder which is adapted to hold the chicks in a'brooder house or room.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a more sanitary brooder of the type described.

A further object of the invention is to pro vide a brooder which may be readily disomantled for shipping or storage.

A further and very important object is to provide a brooder which will be proof against rodents and snakes.

A further object of the present invention is toprovide a brooder which may be easily and readily cleaned of all wastematter.

A further important object of the invention is to provide a brooder which may be manufactured at a minimum cost and which will be .IStIOIlg and sturdy in construction.

Further important objects will appear from the detailed description .taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference charactersrefer to like parts throughout the same and in which:

Fig. l is an end view of a lower unit, showing the manner of mounting a second unit thereon;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a detail view of one side of the brooder,

Fig. 5 is a detail view of one corner of the floor member;

Fig. 6 is a detail view of members, and a Fig. 7 is a partial view of one of the feed troughs.

Referring now to the drawings it will be one of the end noted in using the brooder described herein that several sections are. adapted to be placed one on top of the other as shown in Fig. 1. In this figure, 10 denotes the lower section and 11 one of the upper sections in position thereon. As all of the sections are substantially the same in construction, only the lower section will be described in detail.

angle 29 has its top flanges inturned at 30 section 10 it willbe seen that the same is made up generally of two end walls 12 and 13, two

side walls 14 and 15 and a floor member 16.

The frame of each side wall is formed of a single length of angle iron having one of p V or other clamping means.

The uprights 17 and 18 terminate at their lower ends and are riveted to a horizontal angle member 22 at 23 as'shown in Fig. 4.

This angle member 22 has its side flange 24 extended a short distance and bent inwardly to form a ledge 25, the purpose of which will be noted later, this ledge'terminates just short of the upright members 17 and 18. I

The construction thus far described ap plies to any of the sections of the brooder. The bottom section illustrated differs from the others only in that riveted to the bottom flanges of the angle member 25 are Z-shaped angle members 26, the lower flanges'27 of which form ledges for the reception of the receiving tray 28 which is adapted to have a paper lining to" facilitate cleaning the same. Casters 26a. are provided on the bottom section only so that the stack of sections may be readily moved or turned around.

The ledge 25 and the lower flange of the angle member 22 form a pocket for the reception of the floor member 16 theframe of which is also formed of an angle member 29 in much the same manner as the sides. The

so as to clamp the edges of the wire'mesh 31 which forms the main portion of the floor of the brooder section. v

The side walls 14, of which there are two for each section, are composedof a threesided framework formed by upright members 31a and 32 and a horizontal angle member 33 riveted at either end to the top of said upright members. Both the uprights and the horizontal members are provided with in-' turned flanges which bend back upon theme 9 acute angle to the ledge 36 to form an in-&

clined wall 37 which forms a support for the ledge 36. The remainder of the metal is then bent inwardly again to complete a Z-formation and to provide a flange 38 for the reception of the receiving tray 39 of the upper section, the inclined wall 37 and flange 38 ;,forming a guide for said tray.

either end with a slot 40 into which the horizontal flanges of the members 19 are adapted to fit when assembling the brooder. It will be noted that the wire mesh of the side and end walls terminates short of the bottom framework of the brooder when assembled. This is to permit the insertion of the reversible feed troughs il, one on each of the four sides of each brooder section. These troughs are formed with one straight side 42 which is adapted for insertion inwardly as shown in the drawings when the chicks are less than two weeks old. After chicks are two weeks old they form thehabit of draw ing the feed from the straight side troughs by a chopping motion of their beaks. To take care of this situation, the opposite side of the troughs are provided with an inwardly curved lip or flange l3 which when adjusted within the brooder on a line at which the chicks must eat, eliminates the waste of feed.

The wire mesh sides are also cut out at each end up from the bottom a slight distance at wi l to form a slot with the vertical members for the reception of the ends of the troughs when they are inserted in operative position.

It will be noted that the wire mesh of the sides and ends project into the feed troughs and abut against the sides thereof, making a 0 tight fit which will effectually prevent the entrance of rats or snakes.

In assembling the sections, the end walls 12 and 13 are held upright and the edges of r the floor member 16 are fitted into the pocket formed by the angle member 22 and ledge 25.

The side walls 1st are then brought lengthwise into engagementwith the ends, the uprights 31 and 32 lying along the inner face "of the inturned flange of channel members 17 and 18 and the flange of the horizontal member 19 being received within the slot 40.

The parts are securely held in this assembled position by means of bolts 45 which pass through registering holes s6 and 47 provided therefor in the uprights of said end and side The horizontal members 33 are provided at walls respectively and by bolts 48 which pass through registering holes 49 and 50 provided therefor in the horizontal members 19 and 38 respectively.

The parts being thus assembled and the feed troughs put in position it will be seen that no rats or snakes could enter the interior of the enclosure thus formed through either the bottom or sides.

The top of the enclosure thus formed is closed by means of the receiving tray 39 which slides into and out of position on the flanges 38. This tray as also tray 28 and other receivingtrays is to be provided with a paper-lining to catch the droppings and other litter which fall through the mesh 31 of the'brooder floor. This feature makes the brooder very sanitary and easy to clean since all that is necessary to clean the same is to slide the trays 39 out and insert a new paper lining in place of the soiled one.

As before stated the brooder is adapted to be formed of superposed sections'which are slidable on the track formed by flange 35 and ledge 36. To gain access to any section it is merely necessary to slide the upper sections back on their respective tracks together with the receiving tray directly above the section which it 'isdesired to uncover.

A good circulation of air is provided by forming the walls and bottom of the sections of wire mesh and as the sections are superposed, a great many more chicks than would be ordinarily possible maybe housed in a comparatively small brooder house or room.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it is obvious that various changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A brooder composed of superposed units. said units comprising side and end walls and a mesh floor member, an upstanding flange formed on onnosed side walls, a Z-shaped angle member extending inwardly from each flange, said Z-shaped member comprising a supporting track for said next superposed unit and a tray slidably supported on the lower portion of said Z-shaped members.

2. A brooder unit made up of end and side wall members, said walls being formed of a wire mesh covered framework, said wire mesh terminating short of the lower portion of said frame members whereby to form an opening, a feed trough received within said opening, saidwire mesh projecting into said trough and abutting the outer edge thereof whereby to completely close said opening.

3. In a brooder, a four-sided enclosure, in wardly directed opposed U-shaped channel members carried on the lower portion of two opposed sides, a floor member having its ends received within said channels and supported thereby, an upstanding flange formed on the upper extremity of each of the remaining opposed walls and extending thereabove, a Z- shaped angle member formed inwardly of and slightly below said flange, and a similar brooder unit supported on the track formed by said flange and said Z-shaped member.

4. In a brooder composed of superposed units, wire mesh floor members in each of said units, means carried by the lower of said units for supporting a tray beneath the wire mesh floor member thereof, a substantially Z-shaped trackway formed at the top of the opposed side walls of each unit, said trackway forming a support for the next superposed unit and also forming a guideway below each superposed unit and a tray slidably received within the guideway thus formed.

5. A brooder comprising a plurality of units, the top of each unit provided with oppositely disposed inturned flanges having a pair of stepped sections, a pan removably mounted on one of the stepped sections, the other stepped section receiving and supporting a pair of the oppositely disposed bottom edges of a superimposed unit.

6. A knockdown brooder unit comprising side and end walls, and a floor member, said walls being composed of metallic frame members including end bars and top bars, U- shaped channel members carried by the lower portion of said end Walls, said channel members receiving and supporting end portions of said floor member, the end bars of the side walls closely fitting into the end bars of the end walls, the top bars of said side walls being provided with a slotted flange, said top bars of said end walls being adapted to be received within the slot in said flanges, and means for connecting the side walls to the end wall.

CURTIS O. GRIMES. 

